Madison Beer has millions of followers but a love-hate relationship with social media

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Jan. 3, 2019, 5:05 PM GMT / Source: TODAY

Singer and actress Madison Beer talents were discovered on social media (by Justin Bieber, no less), and she has a whopping 12.1 million followers ... on Instagram alone. But the 19-year-old admits that life isn't always what it appears to be on social media, and even fame isn't always what it's cracked up to be. Beer sat down with TODAY Style's "Why I Love My" series to share her reality behind the posts and what she loves about her freckles.

I think I didn't love my freckles to start with because no one else that I knew had them. I was the only girl that I ever saw that had them. I saw boys that had them. But all the girls just had this beautiful, like, porcelain skin with no freckles, no birthmarks, nothing like that. And I was the one kid who had freckles on my face. I felt like being different wasn't good at a young age, but I've learned differently.

I have such a vivid memory of being at this country-themed party or whatever and all the girls drew freckles on their faces. And I remember kind of looking around and being like, "Are they making fun of me?" And I got super insecure about it.

At the end of the night they were all able to wipe their freckles off. And I wasn't. And I just, I don't know, I felt ugly.

I guess I do have role models that have helped me love my freckles. My dad being one of them. His freckles looked super sweet and cute. And I think that every time I go to a photo shoot, they'll never let me put foundation on. They always are just like, "We want to see your freckles. We love your freckles." And I think that that's definitely helped boost my confidence. Now I love them.

To my younger self I would say not to be so hard on yourself. I think that you are your biggest critic. And you are much hard on yourself than you need to be and that other people are on you. So, take it easy, because you're a good kid and don't deserve to beat yourself up.

I think I learned that lesson with time. I think that I was always sucked into my Instagram comments or my YouTube comments. I would let those things get to me and then I would look at myself in the mirror and be like, "They're always right. They're right about you. You're horrible," all this stuff. It just took a toll on me. And I kind of woke up one day and was like, "No. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not playing this, like, I'm my worst enemy game." I got really tired of it.

To my fans, I say, "I love you guys. But please don't emulate everything I do." It breaks my heart that some of my fans think that because they love me and they idolize me they have to be just like me and dress like me and act like me. And make the same mistakes that I have, which I don't advise.

"I try to just always remind people that I am human. And I'm not this picture-perfect thing you might see on social media."

I appreciate all the love and support you guys give me. But at the same time, I hate hearing, like, "Oh, you're my role model. I'm going to do this because of you or this because of you." I want you guys to be yourselves always. And we could be a family. But I think that everyone is themselves for a reason. And you should be you.

My fans and creating music and art is what drives me to (be a public figure), but being famous is kind of, I don't know, it's weird. People judge you a lot and don't really treat you as a human being. I feel like an object a lot of the times. I don't really feel like a person half the time.

I'm going to try not to rant here, but the thing I hate about social media is that I think a lot of young people, and young girls in particular, compare themselves to Instagram famous people and people who are big celebrities or whatnot. They think that they're so perfect and live these perfect lives when in reality, it's not true.

I try to just always remind people that I am human. And I'm not this picture-perfect thing you might see on social media. When I do livestreams I try to have no makeup on. And that might sound stupid or that might sound small, but it makes a difference to a lot of girls. And I think that they like to see that I'm still a normal 19-year-old. I think that bullying is a huge issue right now, especially cyberbullying, that I think social media is definitely not very healthy for some people. But I've learned to limit it. I have a timer on my social media and I only use it a certain amount of minutes a day. And I think that it's helped me out a lot.

The thing I love about social media would definitely be the amount I get to communicate with my fans. I think we live in such a special time where, you know, 20 years ago the celebrities or the singers that love their fans so much, they weren't able to just go on Twitter and talk to them personally, one-on-one. I feel like they're my family more than they are my fans. I look at these people like my brothers and sister.

Something most people don't know about me is that I'm quite the loner, I would say. I don't really ever leave my house. I think people think I do because they've seen photos of me, you know, walking into clubs or restaurants or whatever. And they assume I have all these friends and I'm super cool. But I'm really, really not.

The best advice I've ever gotten is probably that you have to take everything with a grain of salt and day by day, literally. To me that means, you know, what you're going through right now isn't gonna affect you maybe even by tomorrow. And that everything's temporary. So just don't get yourself too caught up on negative things and things that are upsetting right now. Just live in the moment and honestly, like, experience pain, experience sadness. It'll only make you more grateful for the better days.